Sailing World September - October 2015

WE’RE CRUISING west on San Francisco’s Lombard Street, late for a photo shoot at the St. Francis YC. The late-afternoon traffic is thick but flowing. Paul Cayard, the unshaven 56-year-old hall-of-famer, is in the driver’s seat of his son’s blue Ford F-250. I’m peppering him with questions from the passenger seat as he jags from lane to lane. He’s on a roll, but misjudges a lane change and suddenly lays on the brakes, coming full stop behind a small utility truck waiting to turn across a stream of oncoming traffic. “Damn,” he mumbles, shooting a glance in the rearview mirror. “This toolbox is going to want to go left.” Without a moment’s hesitation, and seizing the opportunity, he jabs the wheel right and guns the truck into the right lane.…

AFTER A PROLONGED WINTER slumber in New England with a handful of new boats getting gussied with graphics at USWatercraft, the C&C 30 One-Design class launched its first season of one-design racing with at the New York YC Annual Regatta presented by Rolex in June. The nine-boat lineup was a long time coming, says its builder Randy Borges, and a welcome sight following a year of testing, tuning, modifying and convincing owners to believe in the C&C brand again. For Walt Thirion, 59, a retired technology executive from Austin, Texas, and one of the class’s founding owners, getting in on the latest onedesign keelboat movement didn’t require much convincing at all. “The design brief fit with what I wanted: something I could have fun with that wouldn’t cost an arm…

WILLIE MCBRIDE COACHED 29er sailors at the St. Francis Sailing Foundation Performance Clinic in June, and he asserts that those four days on San Francisco Bay contributed to “the most competitive youth championships in my memory” three weeks later in Bristol. Attending the clinic were 43 of America’s best youth sailors, “the cream of the cream,” as McBride puts it, “with plenty of support on the water, so as coaches, we could push and push.” Three weeks later, the cream rose at Bristol. US Sailing’s Olympic Development Program accepted an invitation to partner with the St. Francis Sailing Foundation to create the clinic, which US Sailing called “an unprecedented gathering” of talent. Think of it this way: When you’re umpteen years young and you’ve sweated to keep up with Olympian…

STU MCNAY AND DAVE HUGHES’ Olympic campaign was tested with midyear distractions — McNay and his wife welcomed a daughter in July, and his and Hughes’ friend and teammate Trevor Moore was lost at sea. Such disruptions can derail a campaign, but the partners maintained focus, winning gold at two important 470 events back to back. “We found out that Trevor was missing in the middle of Europeans,” says Hughes. “We had to make the decision to go home or continue to compete. We knew that staying was the decision he would want us to make. When we won, that was all for Trevor.” They both credit their chemistry for the team’s gold medal haul at the ISAF Sailing World Cup in June and the 470 European Championships in July,…

THE INTERNATIONAL 110 originated in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1939, and today it is experiencing a rebirth, 3,000 miles away from its East Coast origins, in the even smaller seaside town of Inverness, California, which is located at the gateway to Point Reyes Peninsula, with two parks — one national and one state — that are populated by more elk, mountain lions, whales and dolphins than sailors. The town’s population of 1,304 people live surrounded by natural beauty. ONE-DESIGN FLEETS ELSEWHERE IN THE COUNTRY ARE SHRINKING, BUT NOT BILLER’S. SHE BUILT HERS FROM TWO BOATS TO 23, ONE BOAT AT A TIME. There’s also an immigrant population of 110s, led by 62-year-old Milly Biller, who has been at the helm of a 110 since she was 5 years old. That’s when…

Nevin Snow has experienced his share of on-the-water achievements. After a strong season that included winning College Sailor of the Year, Snow is spending his summer at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, interning for Global Basketball. In the fall, he will return to Georgetown for his final season of college sailing, and will try his hand at mentoring the team’s young recruits. YOU START YOUR LAST SEASON OF COLLEGE SAILING SOON. WHAT WILL BE YOUR FOCUS? In years past, I’ve probably focused more on winning College Sailor of the Year than on anything else. You always want to do the best at regattas right from the beginning, and you’re under stress to win the Nevins Trophy, win Navy Fall, stuff like that, but this year, we learned a…